top of page

STATEMENT

Artworks based on "Gobelin" tapestries and "Toile de Jouy" fabrics took place in 2020. These European landscapes - icons of the taste of a generation - express the admiration of some Latin cultures for the representation of idyllic images of so-called more developed civilizations. The artist grew up in a Brazilian family of Polish origins, in a house filled with similar scenery. Through the perception (and overcoming) of this ancestral cultural fascination, she started to use tapestries and fabrics to paint new landscapes. Letting the memories of these old environments go, allowed her to rebuild an emotional place for her inner visual world.

 

The series of artworks relate to how the idyllic landscapes pictured through these patterns are rooted in the human unconsciousness, being reproduced in textile media over the centuries. Birman appropriates and reinvents these images, cutting and painting them over. The resulting work resembles imaginary maps structured as baroque ornaments. The shapes represent a fragment, a serial element in the formation of a new landscape scene as it bonds to the atmosphere. The artistic process reveals ideas of erasure, contamination and miscegenation. Objects are reinvented, becoming raw materials again. By reconstructing a personal visual environment through the fragmentation of natural landscapes, the artwork ties up perception, memory and, finally, art.

​

BIOGRAPHY

Sandra Birman is a Brazilian visual artist, born into a family of Polish origin, whose artistic process involves the intersection between cultural roots and personal experiences. Her research reveals reflections on fragmented memories, identity and landscape, using tapestries, textiles and painting as pictorial tools.


Bachelor in Visual Communication from PUC University in Rio de Janeiro and Postgraduate in Art Curating from NOVA FCSH in Lisbon, where she worked as part of the collective of curators of the exhibition “Every Body is Political” at the SNBA Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes.
The artist has participated in national and international group exhibitions - highlighting the “RA Summer Exhibition”, at the Royal Academy of Arts London in 2022 - and she was also selected for 2024. Birman lives and works between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. ESCAPE is her first solo exhibition in Portugal.

​

ACADEMIC EDUCATION

​

  • PUC - Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, BFA - Bachelor's Degree, Visual Communication, 1984.

  • FGV - Fundação Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, MBA - Master in Business Administration, 2003.

  • EAV - School of Visual Arts, Rio de Janeiro - History and Theory of Art, 2008 to 2013.

  • Interdisciplinary Studies - Contemporary Art Projects Group, guided by visual artist Iole de Freitas, since 2015.

  • FBAUL - Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon, Master in Painting, 2020 (one year).

  • EGEAC - Masterclass in Art Curation at the Municipal Galleries of Lisbon, 2022.

  • NOVA FCSH Lisbon - School of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA University of Lisbon - Postgraduate degree in Art Curation, 2023.

 

EXHIBITIONS

 

1990 - 'Nucleus', School of Visual Arts. Curator Katie Van Scherpenberg. Rio de Janeiro.

1995 - 'Art Prototypes', Sergio Porto Gallery. Rio de Janeiro.

2020 - 'Erased Memory', NowHere Gallery. Curators Cristiana Tejo and Marilá Dardot.  Lisbon.

2021/2022 - 'Mutirão', Art Collectors Club Gallery NowHere. Lapa, Lisbon.

2022 - 'RA Summer Exhibition', Curator Alison Wilding RA. Royal Academy of Arts, London.

2023

  • Mercado P'la Arte, Group exhibition. Braço de Prata, Lisbon. 

  • 'Every Body is Political' - SNBA Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, as an Art Curator of        the Collective of Curators - NOVA FCSH, Lisbon.

  • Wip Pop-up Art Gallery - Cofounder and Curator. Contemporary art in urban spaces under construction in Lisbon, 2023. 'Bons Ares' (meaning “Good Air”), Group exhibition, Lisbon.

  • 'Small Formats', Group exhibition. Monumental Art Gallery. Mártires da Pátria, Lisbon.

2024

  •  'Escape', Solo Exhibition. Galeria Castra Leuca. Castelo Branco, Portugal.

  •  'RA Summer Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, Curator Ann Christopher, London.

​

PRINTED PUBLICATIONS

 

2021 - 'Pandemic Meetings and Reflections', Iole de Freitas and 19 artists. Art book, Brasil.

2023 - Curatorial text for Exhibition Catalog 'The Every Body is Political' at SNBA, Lisbon.

​

​

bottom of page